“What We Want From Our Principals”: Latinx Parent Visions for School Leadership

• In Event: Reimagining Belonging and Justice in K–12 Education: Centering Latine Students, Families, and Communities

Abstract

This study examines how Latinx parents in two urban districts envision school leadership that affirms their children’s cultural, linguistic, and community identities. Using Valenzuela’s (1999) theory of additive schooling, we explore the leadership practices parents believe are necessary to create equity-driven, community-centered schools. Based on focus group data from California Urban City Unified and Texas Central City ISD (pseudonyms), the study centers Latinx parent narratives and aspirations within systems shaped by racial inequity. Four key findings emerged: (1) frustration with the underrepresentation of Latinx principals; (2) a call for relational, visible, and engaged leadership; (3) concern over destabilizing principal turnover; and (4) a vision for advocacy-oriented, culturally rooted school leadership.

Authors

• Maria Del Carmen Unda, University of Texas at Austin

• Eligio Martinez, Cal Poly Pomona

• Estela Lopez, University of Wisconsin - Madison